- The US government has ordered 40 million doses of
smallpox
vaccine from a British company in a sign of the growing alarm that
terrorists
could unleash lethal viruses in future battles against Western
states.
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- The astonishing size of the contract - worth $343m
(£200m)
- highlights the fears on both sides of the Atlantic about the threat of
biological terrorism. If a virus such as smallpox was released, the speed
of modern communications could spread the infection all over the world
in days.
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- In the UK, the health department warned all NHS hospitals
last year to prepare for a criminal or terrorist attack on their local
populations involving biological weapons. Police teams trained by
scientists
from Porton Down, the government research centre on biological and chemical
warfare, have been formed to take the lead role in the event of an
attack.
-
- The British Medical Association said that advances in
technology meant biological weapons were now easier to manufacture than
chemical ones, increasing the risk that they could be used in an
attack.
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- Over the past 40 years there have been 121 incidents
around the world involving the use of biological agents. The use of sarin
nerve gas in an attack by a Japanese terrorist organisation six years ago,
in which 12 people were killed and 5,000 injured, focused world attention
on the threat. The US last year set aside $1.4bn (£940m) for
protection
against chemical or biological attacks.
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- The latest contract for smallpox vaccine is against a
disease that no longer exists - and the world must hope it will never
encounter
again. It was eradicated from the planet in 1980 and only two research
institutions - one in the US and one in Russia - still retain stocks of
the virus.
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- The threat of a smallpox attack is highlighted in the
preview edition of Infectious Diseases, a new journal published by The
Lancet. Donald Henderson of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health said:
"A large stockpile of vaccine is a very high priority because smallpox
has a 30 per cent fatality rate. There is no vaccine production capacity
anywhere in the world and we now have a very susceptible
population."
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- The vaccine ordered by the US government is being
manufactured
by a US subsidiary of the Cambridge-based UK biotechnology company Acambis,
formerly known as Peptide Therapeutics. Delivery to the US government's
Center for Disease Control in Atlanta is due to start from mid-2004.
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- A spokeswoman said: "At the moment we are going
through the process of developing and licensing the vaccine, but under
the contract we have the right to sell it to anyone who wants it. When
the time comes we will be marketing it to other governments, including
the UK. It certainly would be a logical step for them to take."
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- The likelihood of a chemical or biological attack in
the UK is seen as low by the Department of Health, but the results could
be devastating. Working parties have been set up to consider the threat
and exercises have been run in parts of the country. Lists of the most
likely agents to be used have been drawn up, together with advice on how
many people they might kill or injure, and strategies for treating the
victims.
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- In the US, fear of biological terrorism has become as
unnerving as the threat itself. President Clinton's declaration in 1998
that he expected a biological or chemical attack within the next five years
has fuelled alarm and provided fertile ground for hoaxers.
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